Bid to halt photo radar fails in Arizona

An Arizona town’s
effort to become the first city in the country to use cameras to monitor
speeding and collisions is closer to reality after a bill designed to block the
plan failed.

A measure offered by Sen.
Thayer Verschoor, R-Gilbert, sought to ban Scottsdale and other cities or state
agencies from digitally patrolling freeways unless approved by the Arizona
Legislature.

Verschoor’s bill – SB1164 – failed in a 29-26 vote on April
28 before the full House.

In early April, the House approved a change to the bill that
would have exempted Scottsdale from the proposed ban. However, lawmakers –
appointed from each chamber to reach an agreement on the bill’s wording – deleted the change.

The bill’s supporters were against the exemption, saying
municipalities shouldn’t be allowed to monitor state-controlled highways.

The effort’s demise
will allow Scottsdale to continue working with the Arizona departments of
Transportation and Public Safety to reach an agreement to install the cameras
on a six-mile stretch of the Loop 101. Signs would be posted to warn drivers of
the cameras.

Although that portion of the freeway isn’t its deadliest
segment, The Arizona Republic reports the city wants to study how photo
enforcement would affect the estimated 120,000 to 170,000 vehicles that pass
through the area daily.

But, the legislative effort isn’t completely dead. Verschoor
said he is hoping to change some minds and put the bill back for consideration
this week.

“Freeways and state-controlled highways, and most lawmakers
who have stood up and talked about this said they don’t like photo radar and
they don’t want to expand it,” Verschoor told the newspaper. “This wouldn’t
disallow cities from coming back to the state to work out an agreement.”